Hello wormhole, my only friend. No one is home when I wake up so I scan the system to find our static connection and see where it takes me today. I jump in to our neighbouring class 3 w-space system to a clear directional scanner, with just the one planet currently within range. I launch probes and blanket the system with them to see five anomalies, four signatures, and no ships. I adjust my scanning filter to include structures and I note a tower is anchored somewhere, but locating the tower shows it to be off-line.

An unoccupied system with some anomalies sounds like an ISK-making opportunity, except this C3 holds a black hole, which reduces missile velocity significantly, and most of my boats fire missiles. I take a few minutes to resolve the three signatures that aren't the K162 wormhole leading homewards, resulting in bookmarks for a radar and magnetometric site, and the system's static wormhole. I don't visit the wormhole for now, preferring instead to keep it closed, as I have no immediate need to exit w-space and no desire for tourists to come in this way either. I head home, copy the bookmarks made to our shared can, and take a short break.

Mick's around when I get back and, with little other option, I suggest clearing an anomaly or two for profit. I tweak the fit on my Golem marauder a little, removing one of the active invulnerability fields for a second passive shield boost amplifier, hoping that the increased boost will offset the reduced shield resistances, whilst also freeing a little more capacitor juice for the booster. At least I have an escort for this test flight, although I doubt I'd have any problems. But it is only when we jump in to the C3 that I remember it is a black hole system and not good for missiles, including my already short-range torpedoes. It's good that the anomalies we have lined up, unlike some others, all have Sleepers who get in to close range.

To give a bit of additional damage I try setting my drones on the Sleeper frigates. But the Sleepers are too keen to switch targets and pop drones to make using them worthwhile, which is fine with me. It would be great if Sleepers ignored drones, but having to monitor them, as well as switch their targets, is just another detail I'd rather not manage on top of the normal target selection, attacking, tractoring, looting, and salvaging. I suppose it's really only the salvaging aspect that complicates combat in a Golem, but having a mixture of Sleepers and wrecks, looted wrecks and unlooted wrecks, wrecks in looting range and wrecks not tractored, all whilst keeping an active target painted and torpedoes firing adds up to possible confusion. I think it's impressive I've only destroyed one thankfully looted wreck with torpedoes so far.

The two sweet anomalies are cleared in good time and we decide to move on for now. Mick checks the static exit in this C3, finding it to lead to high-sec empire space and only eleven hops from Jita. I take seventy-five Miskies of loot back to our tower and, with the profits flowing in nicely recently, hear the siren call of buying a deadspace module for the Golem. The lure is too great and, as Mick heads out to pick up some items from Jita, I follow behind my colleague, a contract already picked from the pile for a Gist B-type X-large shield booster. Almost twice as much shield boost for slightly less capacitor juice than my current Dread Guristas large shield booster, it's impossible to resist. But it costs so much ISK, Fin's going to kill me.

I take the recently acquired Sleeper loot out of empire space to sell on the same trip, which at least doesn't make our corporation wallet look quite so bad when the contract for the booster is accepted. The last few days' profit almost covers the cost of the booster, making it seem reasonable if I close my eyes, cover my ears, and shout 'la la la' to ignore having to pay Mick his share of the loot. I almost succeed in that too, but my conscience kicks in a bit later and I remember to pay him. After all, he's being kind enough to pick up the shield booster for me, already having travelled to Jita when I am still wandering around looking for an NPC to buy the Sleeper loot. I just hope it gets back to our tower safely, so that I can at least fit it to the Golem before losing a module that costs more than my fitted Tengu.

'It seems I got home exploding', Mick tells me. Um, should 'without' be in that sentence, perhaps? Apparently so, and he 'definitely meant to type it'. Goody. I get back too and fit the Golem with its new stupidly expensive shield booster. Ooh, look at that. The ship is capacitor-stable in our home pulsar system, which boosts ship capacitors, and lasts for a good thirteen minutes in an ordinary system, all with almost twice the shield boost of the affordable module. I just hope I haven't made it too expensive to fly. But there are bound to be more tales of Sleeper combat coming soon, if only because I need to replace the ISK I've spent.